8 arrested in slaying of Russian councilman

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators have now arrested eight people in the case of a city councilman found dead in a cement barrel, allegedly after he owed $80 million in a business deal gone awry.

The Investigative Committee said Tuesday it arrested one man suspected in the murder-kidnapping of Mikhail Pakhomov and another accused of a related theft. The 37-year-old councilman in Lipetsk, 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Moscow, disappeared last week after three men forced him into a car. His body was found Monday.

Evgeny Kharitonov, a former deputy minister in Moscow’s provincial government, is charged with organizing the kidnapping over what police called an $80 million debt. A warrant has been issued for his business partner.